Dragon Ball Z is getting a ‘battle royale’ miniatures game next year

Anime series Dragon Ball Z is being turned into a miniatures game by Zombicide maker CMON and TMNT: Shadows of the Past studio IDW.

Dragon Ball Z: Miniature Mayhem is described as being a dice-driven ‘battle royale’ game that will let you face off characters from the Dragon Ball universe in a series of battles. If the TV show is anything to go by, presumably most of the fights consist of 40 minutes of screaming at each other before unleashing ridiculously powerful attacks – though the studios do say that the game will play quickly.

The game is being created in partnership with Toei Animation, the Japanese animation studio studio that adapted Dragon Ball Z – as well as its numerous movies, sequels and spin-offs – from the original manga by creator Akira Toriyama.

Characters for the game are yet to be announced; all we have to go for now is the promise of “iconic heroes and villains” from the series, who will be able to recreate showdowns from the anime or be mixed into custom scenarios. We're going to go out on a limb here and guess that you'll probably be able to play as Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Gohan and Trunks at the very least.

It’s not clear if Miniature Mayhem is the same project as the untitled Dragon Ball Z miniatures game announced by IDW back in 2018 and originally planned for release this year to coincide with the anime’s 30th anniversary.

IDW has released a number of other Dragon Ball Z games in the meantime, from social deduction bluffing game Over 9000 to dice game Perfect Cell.

However, it will be a different project to Dragon Ball Z: The Miniatures Game currently in the works from Jasco Games, which previously published the Street Fighter miniatures game. That game was announced in 2016 but is still yet to have a final release date confirmed.

CMON and IDW’s Dragon Ball Z: Miniature Mayhem will be released in 2020 – there’s no word on whether the game will see a Kickstarter campaign.